Michael Singer’s book The Untethered Soul invites us into a profound journey of liberation. We choose freedom by letting go and allowing life to flow. We want to be living in the flow and not swimming upstream. That's resistance. So we need to remember we are awareness observing our thoughts. We need to remember to sit at the seat of awareness rather than the seat of disturbance. The seat of disturbance is that place where we’re uncomfortable. We don't like what's happening and so we’re resisting life on life's terms. Then we can remember that we find freedom through letting go and choosing love.
Michael Singer challenges us to notice how much energy we spend protecting our hearts from the discomfort of life. Sometimes we build walls and we close off because we don't like what we see, so we shut down or we stop engaging. We retreat into the mind’s chatter to avoid the pain that we are witnessing, but true freedom comes not from avoidance but from openness, from keeping our hearts open.
The heart is meant to be open. It's meant to flow with love. So how does this relate to our spiritual values? Love is a core value. Core values are to love generously, to love being kind, to love being openhearted, forgiving and compassionate. Singer says freedom is found not in controlling life, but in meeting it with love and compassion, no matter the circumstances. It's not always easy, but that is our work to do. One of Michael singer's key teachings is letting go of resistance to what is. When we cling to old hurts or pain or judgments, we can bind ourselves, and the practice of releasing allows us to meet life with a sense of renewed energy and a sense of openness.
Let me share a little story about non-resistance: There was once a wise monk who lived by a peaceful river, and one day while sitting in meditation by the riverbank, he noticed a scorpion struggling in the water just about to drown. Without hesitation, the monk reached into the water and scooped up the little critter, but as he lifted it, the scorpion stung his hand causing him intense pain. Despite the sting, he held on gently and placed the Scorpion safely on dry land. A passerby who was witnessing this said, “Why did you do that? You know scorpions always sting if you touch them.” And the monk said, “The scorpion reacted according to its true nature, and my true nature is loving kindness - to help, to love, not to harm.”
The lesson for us is that living from the heart means choosing love and compassion, even when we're faced with difficulty. The freedom we're speaking of lies is being true to our higher nature, our true nature, which is the attributes of God: love and compassion and beauty, understanding and empathy.
Personally, I know I have been challenged with life at times. Just recently my 93-year-old mother fell and broke her hip. That is very challenging, and so I went to be with her and I noticed that I was resisting what is. I didn't want her to suffer and I was also resisting this idea that she's aging and dying and that she has dementia. The mind is being destroyed and the body is being diminished. I can't control any of that. The only thing I can bring is love no matter what is. I can't change the circumstances. I can't give her a more clear mind, but I could bring the presence of love, and in that presence there is a connection, no matter what's happening. Even though she may not be able to formulate the words, there are tears in her eyes that say “I know you.” That's how God sees us. No matter what is happening for us, even when we act outside of our own, Divinity, God knows who we are.
And so, during challenging times in life, we want to move from the head into the heart. We want to let go of evaluating and judging and labeling and criticizing and move into the heart, into “how can I show up in this world as the presence of love? How can I show up holding my values, holding who and what I am, and being that loving presence, holding the Scorpion.”
In order to embrace the principles of diversity, equity and inclusivity, we're invited to free ourselves from biases, free ourselves from the conditioned way of thinking. Just as we practice releasing our inner resistance, we must also release societal constructs that separate us into “us” and “them,” coming back together as one body. It's essential to remember that diversity, equity, and inclusivity are values. They're not political. They are statements about our shared humanity. They call us to honor the inherent worth and dignity of every individual, and when we commit to this, we're engaging in the sacred practice of seeing, being and celebrating the Divine in all people.
We can't compartmentalize our values here and there. Our values are our values and we live those values in the world. We commit to practicing and seeing and celebrating the Divine in all people and the truth beyond whatever is happening in our world. We believe each person is an individualized expression of divinity itself. The energy of love is transformative, and when we consciously choose love through our words, actions and thoughts, we elevate the energy around us.
I know many of you practice heart math and you understand that we are vibratory energetic beings. The more that we get into our hearts and the more we practice love and appreciation and gratitude, that vibration gets bigger and bigger and everyone who comes into our space feels that vibration, feels that energy. We naturally enter into the highest vibration of whoever is holding it. I believe that Jesus would do this. He would walk into a room and it would immediately pull everyone into the Divine energy of love.
I invite you to take a minute to do that. Just put your hands on your heart take a deep breath. Now move your attention out of the head down into the heart center. Breathe slowly and rhythmically. Now vibrate at the energy of appreciation, gratitude and love for whatever is easy for you - maybe it's a baby or an animal or a sacred place. Now feel that energetic vibration moving throughout your body and extending out to all of your neighbors. Feel the peace that that brings to you and all those that enter into the space where you are. As you breathe, silently repeat, “I am free. I am open. I am love.”
Our work as Spiritual Beings is to hold steadfast to what's true regardless of the shifting tides, regardless of what's happening externally. The winds of change will blow, but we can stand firmly in our own truth and know that these values that we hold are permanently embedded in us. The Christ presence in us will take hold when we surrender to it, knowing that we will be whatever tomorrow demands.
Comments